


There's No Time Like the Present But Try Not to Screw It Up Because the Past Has Sucked a Lot So Far

by Pokemoon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, High School, Humor, Self-Discovery, Slice of Life, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-05-13 09:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5702692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokemoon/pseuds/Pokemoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do it for me... For your father..."</p>
<p>It's a mystery how Ceci can be guilt tripped with a man she's never met, but it happens, and she finds herself competing in the King's Row Academy Annual Scholarship Tournament - if only to appease her mother. The simple solution would be to lose, yet Ceci somehow manages to screw even that up and actually wins, landing herself a one way trip to a prestigious boarding school she is most definitely not qualified for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So basically, I take funny things that happen to me in real life or funny situations I think up, mix them with some heavy backstory, and just vomit it all into this work. This is a short chapter in comparison to what I've been writing recently, but I hope you guys like it :) I have so many plans for this work!
> 
> I haven't planned anything more explicit than some sexual innuendos for humorous purposes, and fluffy scenes such as first kisses and the like, so I kept the rating at Teen and Up. Honestly, I don't know who'll read this, and what their limits are. There might be a few swears every chapter, references to darker stuff, but I don't think the rating will ever go up.

"My name is Nicholas Diaz, but I go by Nico, and I am fucking awesome!" A skinny boy with curly black hair and tanned skin holds his outstretched palm an arm's length in front of him, and the class of twenty waits with bated breath for…

 

Well… Ceci isn't exactly sure, but everyone else looks excited.

 

Even from the far corner of the classroom, and even without her glasses, she can still make out his blurry figure, and the way he clenches his palm. Orange-red flames spark to life around his fist, filling the classroom with quiet crackling noises. He slams his fist against the wall behind him, and the flames instantly leap forward, taking the shape of a massive dragon's head, the roaring flames so loud it seems like there's an actual fire dragon in the room.

 

Everyone applauds enthusiastically, and even Ceci finds it within herself to clap a few times.

 

Nico turns to the side, towards their teacher, and looks at him with a confident smile, but the man just gives him a dismissive wave of his hand before scribbling a short comment on the rubric.

 

"C'mon, Jamie! It was cool, right?" Nico asks, still grinning cheerfully.

 

"It was 'cooler' last year when you did it the first time," their teacher responds dryly, "and that's Mr. Preston to you, Diaz. Next."

 

The student who sits behind Nico walks to the front of the class with a confident swagger. His shaggy blond hair falls past the collar of the school mandated uniform, and his toned biceps are evident underneath its white sleeves. He looks more like he belongs on a California beach than in a classroom.

 

"So, Jamie," he drawls, "What are we supposed to do?"

 

Ceci is glad - very glad judging by the way Mr. Preston groans and pinches the bridge of his nose - that someone asked before she had to, but the blond boy doesn’t care. "Okay, okay…" sighs Mr. Preston, "For those of you who are new to my class, this is the first quiz grade of the year. State your name, share something about yourself, and demonstrate your ability in two steps: trigger and discharge. I'm sure one or two of you prodigies don't need a trigger to activate your ability, but one-hundred isn't divisible by three. And also, I'll see _you,_ " he looks pointedly at the blond boy, "in detention."

 

"What?!" the boy protests angrily. "Why?!"

 

Mr. Preston doesn't even look up. "Because you're annoying."

 

Ceci is very, very glad she didn't have to ask.

 

All too soon, it becomes Ceci's turn. The walk to the front of the classroom feels like a walk to her doom, and she can almost hear the start of March to the Scaffold playing in the background. "Hi," she begins quietly, meekly, as she tries to disappear into the beige wallpaper. "My name is Cecilia Kasteluna, but I go by Ceci, and I'm the scholarship student." Maybe it's just her imagination, but it feels like the entire class became twice as attentive as soon as she said it. In return, Ceci becomes twice as nervous.

 

Ceci takes a deep breath, and snaps her fingers - her trigger -, a dull, quiet sound. She squeezes her eyes shut even as she slowly unfurls her fingers, and from her upturned palm, a small growth of green begins to appear. In her mind, she imagines a lily, beautiful and serene, as it blooms in the warmth of spring. A lone flower, standing tall and proud amidst a field of green.

 

_A harbinger of death and cold, grey concrete._

 

Ceci's eyes fly open, and she remembers where she is, remembers that it's her first day of junior year, in a prestigious boarding school halfway across the country from everything she's ever known, and nineteen students that she's going to spend the next two years with are watching her, judging her.

 

The pressure she feels skyrockets, and she can feel her control over her ability waver. The stem is complete, all that's left is the flower, but Ceci becomes afraid that she'll screw up, and changes her mind at the last second. Just before the flower blossoms, she decides to create something simpler, something innocent and cute. A daisy.

 

The white petals blossom under the scrutiny of her class, and Ceci breaths a sigh of relief when it's finally over. She stares at the flower, feeling oddly proud. As simple as it is, it's the first time she's used her ability in over a year. All things considered, she could have made a far worse first impression on her classmates.

 

"Why is the stem so thick?" asks one student, and suddenly all the others are nodding in agreement, looking at Ceci expectantly.

 

Ceci turns to the teacher, hoping he'll tell her to sit down, but instead he's also curious. She looks at the flower, and belatedly realizes that lily stems and daisy blossoms don't go well together. It's not as if she can tell the truth, she can't straight up tell the class that she was afraid of loosing control over her ability, and by extension not qualified to be _the_ scholarship student. "I um…" Ceci tries to come up with a plausible lie. "I like thick…" she motions her hands up and down in the general shape of a stem.

 

(T_T)   (T_T)   (T_T)   (T_T)   (T_T)  (T_T)   (T_T)   (T_T)   (T_T)   (T_T)

 

**After-School Detention**

Name: Cecilia Kasteluna

Offense: Obscene gestures made during class

Teacher: James Preston

 

"Wow," Lena says, examining Ceci's detention slip to make sure it's real. " You're pretty impressive, huh?"

 

As always, Ceci's attention is drawn to the bandages wrapped around Lena's head, under the fringe of her pixie cut, obscuring her left eye. Ceci isn't exactly sure who Lena is, a representative from the student council or something like that, but she doesn't look it. "I guess that's one way of putting it," sighs Ceci.

 

Yesterday, in a tight, white T-shirt; faded, grey jeans; and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, Ceci initially thought Lena was a delinquent. And a boy. Despite her lean figure - no curves of any kind whatsoever - and short hair, Ceci easily realized Lena was a girl after hearing her voice. It was less easy to figure out that the cigarette was actually a stick of candy.

 

In her uniform, Lena looks more like a respectable student, although her bandages still stick out like a sore thumb. Her white, dress shirt is tucked neatly into her black skirt, which comes down to her mid-thigh. Her black tie is knotted around her slender neck expertly, and hangs just above the waist of her skirt.

 

Ceci is wearing the exact same uniform, but for some reason, it just doesn't look the same on her, and she doesn't know why. Is it because her tie is a little crooked?

 

All Ceci knows is that she got detention in her first class of the first day of the year, and then had to go through the rest of her classes with that stigma hanging over her head. How was she supposed to realize that plant stems have the same shape as a certain bodily organ?! It's not like she's got one, or she thinks about them often.

 

"Don't look so down," Lena says, clapping Ceci on the back with more force than necessary, "I've heard good things about today's detention. In fact, there's guy from student council there today. He's got black hair, short on the sides, spiked on top. You'll probably know him when you see him. Tell him I said 'your're welcome'."

 

"I'll know him when I see him? You're welcome?" Ceci repeats doubtfully. "What's that supposed to mean?" And more importantly, why is he on the student council? Spiked hair and detention on the very first day of school sounds like a delinquent to Ceci, and Ceci solemnly vowed to her mother to avoid delinquents at all costs, lest they drag her off the straight and narrow.

 

Lena laughs and playfully - forcefully - shoves Ceci towards the gymnasium's double doors. Ceci is starting to get the feeling Lena's default strength is set on painful. "Don't worry, he'll at least know you when he sees you."

 

That, Ceci is sure, can't mean anything good.

 

But the only person on the other side of the doors is the surfer boy from her first period, Elemental III. And for whatever reason, he looks less than happy to see her.

 

"It's you!" he seethes as soon as the door slams shut behind Ceci.

 

Ceci looks over her shoulder, then back at the boy with wide eyes. "Me?"


	2. Roads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as one depressing day is over, another one begins. Ceci really hates boarding school. Will the embarrassment ever end?

_"How was your first day of school?"_

 

Ceci sighs into the receiver, nursing a black eye with a soggy bag of ice. "I want to go home."

 

Her mother is many things, and stubborn is one of them, along with determined, driven, and unsympathetic. _"Cecilia Kasteluna,"_ she says, _"You worked hard to earn that scholarship! It will not go to waste, not on my watch!"_

 

Ceci can't bring herself to tell her that she worked hard _not_ to win it. It would break her mother's heart. Or it would send her mother into a righteous fury. Both are equally bad.

 

"I got punched in the face," she deadpans, slowly reclines onto her new bed, breathing in the smell of school issued sheets, in all their detergent-y, yet still musty glory, reminding Ceci that she doesn't belong here. Whereas all the rich kids are probably rolling in silk sheets, she has to settle for cheap cotton. Even her old sheets were softer.

 

 _"You promised not to start any fights,"_ her mother reminds sharply. _"This is your chance to start over."_

 

Ceci closes her eyes. She's a little sad, a little disappointed, but not surprised. It was too much to hope her mother would take her side for once. "Gee thanks, mom. I can barely use my ability anymore. Why would I start a fight? The guy just decked me out of the blue! I don't even know him!"

 

 _"I'm sorry, baby,"_ replies her mom, not sounding very sorry. _"I just want you to do well. Put ice on it, maybe you can borrow a friend's makeup. Have you made any friends yet?"_

 

Ceci throws her free hand up into the air. Has she made any friends yet? Of course not. "Mom?" Ceci spits out, "Goodbye." After what happened in first period, she immediately became a social outcast. Plus, she's the _only_ person in her entire dorm, because, for whatever reason, there's an entire dorm building dedicated to scholarship students, and the only other scholarship student on the campus- "Wait!"

 

" _What is it?_ " Her mother asks, irritation apparent in her voice. " _First you want me to go and now you don't?_ "

 

"Do you-" Ceci fiddles with a strand of hair, thinking back to the moment right after she got punched, the black hair, short on the sides, spiked on top, "Do you remember Bryce?"

 

Her mother laughs on the other end of the line, in a good mood again. _"Of course I remember him! You two used to be such good friends! Did you see him? How is he?"_ Ceci imagines her mother - cheerful, smiling, and _at home_ \- in sharp contrast to the misery she feels while pressing down hard on her left eye through the ice pack. The lingering cold and dull pain make her feel angry.

 

Why was she sent to this damn school?! The only two students not rich and affluent are her and Bryce, the two scholarship students. But he was cool, good-looking, and athletic enough to block another punch aimed for Ceci. In other words, probably popular. While Ceci made a fool out of herself in first period, made an enemy without even knowing it, and realized all too late that her sneakers don't match the school uniform. In the least. At all. Period. Goddamn.

 

"You don't sound very surprised," Ceci mumbles under her breath, "Don't tell me you knew we would meet."

 

Her mother laughs again, much to Ceci's irritation. It's like her mother isn't taking her seriously. " _Of course I didn't know you two would meet, but I did know that he goes to King's Row. He's the youngest winner in the history of the scholarship. It was all over the news a few years ago. You would know if you paid more attention to the world."_

 

"Okay, okay, thanks," Ceci says hurriedly. "Bye, for real this time."

 

_"Did you take your medicine?"_

 

Ceci gets a barely controllable urge to throw her phone across the room. "Yes, for God's sake, I took it."

 

_"Okay, baby, I'm just checking. Bye."_

 

"Bye, mom."

 

(-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ  (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ   (-.-)zzZ

 

Their relationship is unhealthy. Ceci knows it - oh, how she knows it - but no matter how many tears she sheds, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how her heart burns, she keeps coming back for more. Sometimes she tries, tries to leave it all behind, but she can never forget how good it feels, if only at first.

 

She really needs to stop eating spicy ramen.

 

Ceci sucks in a breath through clenched teeth, the burning sensation not enough to deter her from serving herself another bowl for breakfast. She glances at the clock. Only half an hour left until hell begins.

 

(╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰) (╯•﹏•╰)

 

"Ouch." Leina greets Ceci in the morning with a cringe, glancing sympathetically at her black eye. "I heard about what happened. At least you got to meet Bryce, right?"

 

"Yeah…" Ceci sighs, "I guess…" She's happy that she finally has a chance to reunite with Bryce, but what if he thinks she's lame? She's neither pretty nor particularly smart, neither funny nor talented. All she ever had was her ability, and now she can barely use it. Lost in her endless worries, Ceci doesn't notice Leina stop and nearly runs into her.

 

"Look," Leina says seriously for the first time since Ceci met her, "This school is… different from typical schools. Ninety-five percent of students get a monthly allowance greater than your entire life savings, and where there's more money, there's always more leeway in the rules. You are _the_ scholarship student. If someone goes at you again, you won't get in trouble for fighting back."

 

Ceci mulls over Leina's words as they start walking again, thinking bitterly that she would only embarrass herself more by trying to 'fight back'. But that's a secret she's going to take to the grave. If the school ever found out how undeserving of the scholarship she is, then there would be hell to pay. She'd be accused of foul play. Her history would be called into question. She might get arrested for murder.

 

Leina laughs, snapping Ceci out of her downward spiraling thoughts. "Haha, I think murder is a bit of a stretch."

 

Ceci snaps her head up, looking a Leina with a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Are you a telepath?" If so, then there's no way to keep her secret a secret. She'll have to convince Leina to not tell anyone. The gears in Ceci's mind begin turning, thinking of how to convince Leina to keep her secrets. She's too rich to bribe. Probably too strong to blackmail.

 

But then Leina says, "No. You were muttering to yourself and I have good hearing."

 

"Oh."

 

"Well, here we are," Leina announces cheerily. "Elemental III, lair of Sir James Preston II, Chair of Ability Studies and the- uh… best teacher on campus." With a mock salute, she quickly disappears around the corner just as Mr. Preston opens the door.

 

"That's right, and stay away!" he shouts after Leina, then frowns down at Ceci. "Class doesn't start for another ten minutes. What are you doing here?" He chooses not to comment on her black eye.

 

Ceci hugs her binder closer to her chest, taking a deep breath. "I just wanted to apologize for yesterday," she says hurriedly, staring pointedly at her feet. "I swear I only meant I liked thick stems, for aesthetic purposes and all, not thick… you know. You won't call my mother, will you?" She looks up hopefully, but Preston is already halfway back to his desk.

 

"Get inside. You're blocking traffic."

 

He doesn't sound very angry about yesterday, and Ceci lights up with relief. "Yes, sir!" She happily trots over to the desk she staked out in the corner of the classroom and doesn't even realize there's another student in the classroom until she bends over to unzip her backpack. Nico. Ceci offhandedly wonders why he's here so early, but shrugs it off without a second thought as just another rich kid quirk.

 

It isn't until several minutes later that students begin to file in for class, but only after the bell rings do the halls begin to empty. "Tardy, tardy, and tardy!" shouts Mr. Preston as student after student walks through the door. "How many times have I told you to be in your seats before the bell rings?"

 

A murmur of 'sorry' ripples through the class, but no one looks or sounds particularly sorry. One student glances at Ceci, then gasps in shock. He pokes the student next to him, and soon the entire class is sneaking a peek at her eye, whispering hushed comments between each other. One even pulls out his phone to snap a picture, but Ceci luckily turns away in the nick of time.

 

"Since you all sound so excited, we can spar today." This time, almost everyone bursts into moans, even Ceci, who isn't exactly sure what sparring entails, but knows it won't be good. Preston simply shrugs, standing up. "Will this ruin your hairdo, ladies?" he asks mockingly, ushering the class outside. "Too bad. To the field, you pieces of shit."

 

Unlike Nico, who eagerly bounds down the staircase and is the only person in the class even remotely eager to spar, Ceci is the last out the door, more reluctant than even the laziest students in her class. Maybe class will end before her turn comes around.

 

Behind the Forrester Building for Ability Studies is a suspiciously large and empty, gravel field surrounded by a chain link fence. Ceci wonders if a football field is this large as Preston opens the gate and her class slowly shuffles inside.

 

"The rules are simple," Preston shouts as the class lines up along the back of the field, Ceci in the very corner. "If you win, you get a one-hundred. If you lose, you get a zero." Preston looks around at his students and finally comes to a decision. "Kasteluna!" Ceci jumps to attention. "You're up!"

 

Ceci's heart sinks in her chest, and the spicy ramen from breakfast rumbles unsupportively in her stomach. Preston must be angry about yesterday after all. "I… I don't really want to fight," she says even as her classmates push her to the front. "Can I go to the restroom first?"

 

No one pays her any mind.

 

"Marks! Marks!" Ceci can see a vein popping in Preston's forehead. "Ashton Harold Marks!" he yells angrily. Finally, surfer boy looks up with a bored expression. "You two," barks Mr. Preston, "Fight."

 

Ceci looks at the surfer boy. _"Ashton Harold Marks,"_ she notes in her head. The name isn't familiar, but she must have done something to warrant a punch to the face.

 

"After you," Ashton says to Ceci, gesturing to the vast expanse of the field with a mocking flourish of his wrist.

 

She sighs, and take a tentative first step towards the center, conscious of the hushed whispers being traded between her classmates. Maybe it's just her imagination, but the air seems rather humid. Ceci walks… and walks. But even after an eternity of walking, she never reaches the center. In front of her, the field stretches seemingly endlessly, and she isn't even sure where the center is. For all she knows, she already passed it.

 

The air is really humid…

 

Looking backwards, she finds Ashton still back where they started, staring at her with a devious grin. He hadn't moved an inch, and Ceci flushes with embarrassment. Why is he determined to make of fool of her? She turns around, about to walk all the back to where her class is, but realizes that the air isn't just humid - it's downright damp, like it would feel after a rainstorm.

 

Her mind flashes back to the strange flourish of Ashton's wrist, and she remembers his presentation from the day before, realizing too little too late that she's already been ensnared in the middle of his attack.

 

The air around her begins to condense exponentially faster, water droplets becoming visible in the atmosphere. Ceci breaks into a sprint, but grows tired embarrassingly quickly - forget trying to outrun the water, she wouldn't outrun a turtle. Giving up on trying to look cool, Ceci slows to a walk, and tries to calm herself.

 

If she can't outrun it, then she'll just have to counter it. Easier said than done. At this point, she's almost completely surrounded by a sphere of water. Only a thin layer of air is left around her body, and it's being filled frighteningly quickly.

 

Ceci's mind races furiously for a solution, but keeps getting distracted by fear. No one's going to stop Ashton. No one's going to help her. She's going to drown on dry land. She'll get a zero for her grade.

 

She extends her arm out, barely able to poke the tip of her finger through the edge of the sphere before the water shift slightly and envelops it again. At the same time, she finally loses her last pocket of air, and is forced to hold her breath.

 

Ceci plugs her nose with one hand, glaring at Ashton, who cockily approaches her. His mouth moves, but Ceci can't hear him over the sound of her heart pounding and her panicked thoughts.

 

 _"What?"_ mimes Ceci through the water.

 

Ashton shakes his head and slowly mouths, _"If. You. Say. You-"_

 

Ceci tries to read his lips, she really and truly does, but keeping her eyes open in the water is painful, and she unwittingly blinks.

 

When she opens them again, Ashton is looking at her expectantly. What was the rest of his sentence? Ceci looks back helplessly. She shrugs her shoulders, trying to convey her apology through her expression. She tried her best; it just wasn't good enough, as usual.

 

Ashton stomps his foot furiously and steps closer to the bubble. He points impatiently at his mouth, and slowly moves his mouth in illegible patterns, which Ceci supposes is intended to equal speech. It was better the first time. He should really invest in a sign.

 

 _"Well,"_ Ceci thinks grimly as her lungs begin to ache, _"First thing's first: I need air."_

 

Although she can't create anything complicated, she'll be able to make something simple as long as she concentrates. Ceci squeezes her eyes closed, shutting everything out of her mind.

 

She's not encased in water. Those aren't the pearly gates. That's not Saint Peter.

 

Ceci presses her palm to the edge of the giant, waterlogged bubble she's trapped in. She snaps, picturing a hollow bamboo tube. Raising her other hand, Ceci holds the short length of bamboo she managed to create, careful to keep her hand inside the water, but the edge of the tube outside the water, and begins to bring her right hand towards her mouth. It looks like a magic trick, like she's pulling the tube out of the palm of her hand.

 

As soon as it draws close enough, Ceci quickly seals her mouth over the other end of the tube, then opens her eyes. She sucks in a large gulp of air. Finally, she can breathe.

 

All the while, Ashton gapes at Ceci, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, as if no one had ever countered his attack before, but he recovers quickly. He shouts something about being a smartass while either their class or the wind whispers in the background, but the water and adrenaline make it hard for Ceci to understand anything.

 

He seals his hand over the opening of the tube.

 

She definitely understands that.

 

So Ceci wraps her hand around the middle of the tube and creates an offshoot of it which pokes out through the top of the water bubble like a periscope. Unfortunately for Ashton, the bubble is too large for him to reach it, and Ceci is able to breathe comfortably again.

 

They come to a standstill. Ashton looks around at a loss for what to do. Ceci takes measured breaths in and out of her mouth, her pulse slowing until finally Ashton decides to release his ability. The water immediately drops the ground with a splash, turning the ground muddy and leaving Ceci soaked to the bone with a T-shaped length of bamboo in hand.

 

Ceci lets the bamboo fall to the ground, where it lodges itself in the mud. She shakily snaps her fingers again and, with great focus, manages to pull another, long bamboo rod out of her palm, but this time it's not hollow. Using both hands, Ceci grasps it firmly at one end with the other pointing at Ashton and shifts her feet slightly, assuming a basic kendo stance.

 

She took kendo for many years from the dojo next to her apartment building back in Chicago, but never got over feeling embarrassed when practicing in public. Something about the rigid form, and-

 

Ashton sniggers. "What is that? Karate? Kung fu?"

 

And the ignorance. Kendo, taichi, capoeira - none make any difference: it's always karate or kung fu.

 

"It's called kendo," Ceci says matter-of-factly, trying to keep her hands steady. Her wet uniform clings uncomfortably to her body and she shivers in the chilly morning air.

 

"Come at me, loser," Ashton shrugs cockily. "You can't beat me with a stick."

 

Ceci grips her makeshift shinai tighter. She hates people like Ashton. Being able to create plants isn't the most awe-inspring ability, especially in comparison to people like Nico who can make dragons out of fire, or people like Bryce who can create crackling lightning with a simple clap of his hands. That's why she trained so hard in her ability, so people would acknowledge her as more than just a flower girl, but now she's lost even that.

 

"I can at least try," mutters Ceci under her breath.

 

The muscles in her legs tense as she prepares to attack, the first step in regaining some semblance of control over her life.

 

"Boo."

 

"Oh holy cheesecake-" Ceci spins around to find a blond haired boy standing right behind her. _"Who is he?!"_ wonders Ceci, unable to conceal her bewilderment. " _And where did he come from?!"_

 

Without bothering to introduce himself, the boy simply says, "Preston says time is up and to get changed. Laters." He flips a penny into the air then vanishes as quickly as he appeared, leaving the penny to fall onto the muddy ground, and Ceci and Ashton in stunned silence.

 

 _"Teleportation,"_ Ceci vaguely realizes around the same time she realizes she didn't wear an undershirt and her white dress shirt is soaked through, revealing her lacey pink bra, the good one she wore for extra luck today.

 

Ceci isn't feeling very lucky.

 

(o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o) (o\\\\\o)

 

Ceci was excused from the rest of first period to get a change of clothes, but it didn't prevent her classmates from watching her on the walk of shame, flushed red with embarrassment. She didn't lose to Ashton, but she definitely lost to the universe.

 

Waiting on the doorstep of the dorm for scholarship students is none other than Leina, holding a bag in one hand and her phone in the other. "How are you everywhere?" Сeci asks tiredly. She's never been this worn out after only first period.

 

"Well… I do have eyes and ears in a lot of places, but Nico is my roommate, and he told me you needed a change of clothes."

 

"Riiight," Ceci says slowly, pausing mid-step. "Wait- Your roommate? I thought- Aren't you- What?" Ceci sputters hopelessly, unsure of how to phrase her question without being offensive, before finally settling on, "You're a girl… right?"

 

"He's like my brother," answers Leina without really answering the question. "Go change," she commands, holding up the bag. And, do you have a pair of heels?"

 

Ceci grabs the bag and unlocks to door to her dorm with a swipe of her student ID. She trudges inside, thinking of all the belongings she brought before replying over her shoulder, "No, why?"

 

"It's part of the dress code," Leina says, drawing swirly patterns on the dusty door's full panel window. "For juniors they need to have at least a one and a half inch heel."

 

Ceci doesn't even bother replying. Of course a posh school like King's Row has a ridiculous dress code, as if the tie wasn't enough. She had to look the instructions up last night. It's not as if she could ask Walter, her stepfather.

 

"So, you have a stepfather?"

 

Ceci freezes. How did-

 

Leina laughs, tapping her ear. "Good hearing, remember?"

 

"Uh… yeah," says Ceci after a moment as she drops her backpack against the wall, then confides,  "Actually, I've never even met my real father."

 

She walks off to change and only catches the tail of Leina's response. "…too."

 

(ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)   (ʃ⌣́,⌣́ƪ)

 

Ceci can't stop thinking about what Leina said. She only heard the last word clearly and can't even ask about it because Leina is gone by the time Ceci finishes changing, although that has less to do with Leina than with Ceci's complete inability to tie a tie. She settles on a too tight, slightly askew knot and heads to second period, Biology,  just to double back a few minutes later after realizing she forgot her backpack.

 

Only at lunch does Ceci finally see Leina again. "Hey!" Ceci calls out, carrying her tray of food. She didn't even know they were in the same lunch together, but it's only too easy to spot the way the crowd parts for Leina, the unmistakable tail of her bandages trailing behind her.

 

When Leina actually turns around, Ceci wants to cry in relief. Too often has she called out to someone only to be ignored. And then Leina smiles. Ceci thinks she feels tears prickling the corner of her eye. Why is someone like Leina - someone so cool and confident and surely popular - being so nice to Ceci?

 

Ceci takes one step forward and-

 

And sees him - Bryce.

 

The sight of him makes Ceci want to duck into the nearest corner and fix her tie. And brush her hair. And brush her teeth. And maybe brush the idiot out of her personality.

 

Bryce waves at her like they're old friends - which they are, Ceci reminds herself - except that was nine years and three prescriptions ago. Ceci is hardly the same person she was in second grade, and though Bryce is probably much different than he was when he was eight, he seems to have progressed while Ceci regressed. Retrogressed. Either or. Ceci's brain is short circuiting.

 

 _"He's coming this way!"_ she panics inwardly. On the outside though, she tries to smile and waves with the hand not holding her lunch tray.

 

"Hey," he says casually, subtly wiping his sweaty palms on the legs of his black slacks. "How's your eye?"

 

The motion doesn't escape Leina's notice, but Ceci can't stop the kaleidoscope of memories on endless replay in her head. She stares at him dumbly, mouth slightly agape, trying to make sense of his words and reply with something witty, but all that comes out is, "Quack."

 

Leina clears her throat. "Well, uh… You like ducks?"

**Author's Note:**

> If you're just here to find some clues as to what's up with my other works, then I appreciate you getting to the end. (Haha, like anyone reads my other works...) I've been working on the Ability Hound, trying to straighten it out and plan better. I can't say that I'm close to finishing the next chapter, but it's getting there. As for Management of Miscreants... yeah. I thought the first chapter turned out really well, so I'm kind of scared to write the second one. Plus, I don't know if I want to make it dark or fluffy.
> 
> Anyways, please comment/review, especially if you see things that need improvement. And, if you're feeling really generous, please leave kudos. Thanks!


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